146 OBober 1748. 



faw fome potts made of chefnut wood, and 

 put into the ground only the year before, 

 which were already for the greatefr. part 

 rotten below. 



The Saffafras tree, or Laurus Sajfafras, 

 Linn, grows in abundance in the country, 

 and ftands fcattered up and down the woods, 

 and near bufhes and enclofures. On old 

 grounds, which are left uncultivated, it is 

 one of the firfl that comes up, and is as 

 plentiful as young birches are on thofe 

 Swedifi fields, which are formed by burn- 

 ing the trees which grew on them.* The 

 fanafras grows in a dry loofe ground, of a 

 pale brick colour, which confifts for the 

 greatefr. part of fand, mixed with fome 

 clay. It feems to be but a poor foil. The 

 mountains round Gothenburgh, in Sweden, 

 would afford many places rich enough for 

 the Saffafras to grow in, and I even fear 

 they would be too rich. I here faw it 

 both in the woods amidft other trees, and 

 more frequently by itfelf along the enclo- 

 fures. 

 . 



* In Mr. OJteck's Voyage to China, Vol. i. p. 50. in a 

 note, an account is given of this kind of land, which the 

 Swedes call Sivedieland, where it is ohferved, that the trees 

 being burnt, their afhes afford manure fufheient for three 

 years, after which they are left uncultivated again, till after 

 twenty or more years, a new generation of trees being pro- 

 duced on them, the country people burn them, and cultivate 

 the country for three years again. F, 



